This application relates to the art of plastic duct and, more particularly, to such duct having a longitudinally extending wire embedded in the wall thereof. The invention is particularly applicable to toneable duct and will be described with specific reference thereto. However, it will be appreciated that the invention has broader aspects and is applicable to other types of duct having items embedded in the wall thereof.
Toneable duct is plastic duct that has an electrically conductive longitudinally extending wire embedded in the wall thereof. A long string of buried pipe can be located by passing a signal through the wire and using instruments at the surface to locate the pipe by detecting the signal.
The wire is very small and difficult to locate by looking for the exposed wire end at an end of a duct. The wire must be exposed to join adjacent pipe sections and this requires cutting into the exterior surface of the pipe at the end portion thereof with a utility knife or other tool. The plastic is very hard and difficult to cut, and the process of cutting into the pipe for exposing the wire sometimes results in breakage of the wire.
It would be desirable to have an improved way of visually identifying the location of the wire. It also would be desirable to have an improved way of exposing the wire along the end portion of the pipe once it is located.